Kaleidoscope
by Stelra Etnae
Summary: When Rouge was offered up as a sacrifice by her village to the dragon of the mountain, she had gone fully expecting to be eaten. She never imagined that she would end up instead becoming foster mother to an odd ragtag family. Dragon AU, Roger x Rouge; Prequel to Prism. Written for sharethelovemonth


_**Written for Share-the-love-month on Tumblr. This is a companion piece / prequel to my other Dragon AU story "Prism", though both can stand alone. This story details how Roger and Rouge met in this AU-verse. Hope that you enjoy reading it!**_

 **Summ** **ary: Rouge is a human who was offered as a sacrifice by her village to the dragon of the mountain. She'd gone fully expecting to be eaten, and never imagined that she would end up instead becoming foster mother to an odd ragtag family. Dragon AU, Roger x Rouge**

* * *

The ground was dry and crumbling under the soles of Rouge's worn leather sandals as she made her way up the mountain that bordered her village. The vegetation down near the base had not been spared from the drought that had plagued the area for a full month now; once-proud trees were shedding their leaves out of season, paving the forest floor with yellow. But as the air became cooler higher up, the forest, while nowhere as lush as it could have been, grew more healthily than those at the bottom. Some whispered that this was proof of the dragon's curse – that the mountain was stealing water to feed itself, leaving the lands dry and bare.

Legends had been passed down from generation to generation of a dragon living within the mountain that rose up beside their village. 'The dragon will come eat you if you're naughty', parents would tell their children; villagers would warn each other not to venture too deep into the mountain on their own; a sheep would occasionally go missing in the night, accompanied by sightings of a dark blur and the sound of wings. And then there was an old manuscript kept by the village head, about how a virgin maiden had been offered as sacrifice to the dragon to save the village from a terrible disaster.

Now, Rouge was walking, willingly, to her own death.

Despite how the drought had robbed water from their wells and shriveled their crops, they had bathed her and given her a new dress to wear, a pure white one with simple design and good cotton. Even if no one said it aloud she knew that it was intended to be the villagers' last act of kindness, for one who was to become a martyr for their sake.

The air was cooler here, near to the peak of the mountain, the terrain bare and rocky. Just a few meters ahead loomed a great cave that was the rumored dragon's den, the dimming rays of the setting sun unable to pierce its dark depths. Rouge's knees almost weakened, but somehow she made it to the wide ledge in front of the cave. Feeling the unnatural smoothness of the rock beneath her feet, a thought occurred to her to explain its nature – perhaps it had been born from an intense heat which had melted the stone and reformed it again. And even as coldness filled her stomach at the possibility, a glint of gold lit up from within the cave, a huge figure moving into the sunlight.

Rouge sucked in a shaking breath. The tales that the elders had loved to regale the village children with had done nothing to prepare her for this terrifying magnificence. The creature looming above her was at least three times her height, with corded legs each thicker than her waist. Rough scales the size of her palm covered the creature's whole body, a deep wine-colored maroon for most part brightening into dull gold around the long snout. As she watched, leathery wings unfurled to span the width of the cave, the dark red edged with gold reminding her of a vivid sunset. So this was a dragon. It was beautiful, in the same way that danger could be beautiful. The dragon's eyes were onyx black flecked with gold as it leaned down to blow hot air from its nostrils, the warmth fanning across her face.

Rouge clenched her fingers in the light cotton fabric of her dress, reciting the speech the village elders had taught her, which she had rehearsed the whole way up the mountain. "I am Rouge, from the village at the base of the mountain named Batterilla. I- I present myself as an offering to request that you intervene in the drought that our village has been suffering through for the past month. Please, sir dragon, we beseech for you to stop the drought!"

She took pride in the fact that her voice shook only a little, but the silence that followed her words made her doubt herself. Perhaps the elders had been wrong, and the dragon could not understand human speech? The legends had often said that dragons could mimic their tongue. As the silence dragged on, Rouge wondered if they had simply been artistic embellishments after all.

Onyx black eyes stared into hers, deep and ancient yet strangely innocent in their curiosity. Those eyes questioned her, seeming as if they were reading into her soul. Rouge didn't flinch when the tip of a wing brushed the side of her face with surprising gentleness for its form. And the dragon finally spoke, its voice deep and rough like she had imagined yet holding an oddly tender undercurrent that caught Rouge's breath.

"You said that you've come as an 'offering'," the dragon wondered, dark eyes never leaving hers. "Isn't that just a nicer name for 'sacrifice'? Why do you care so much for people who knowingly sent you to your death for their own sake?"

Rouge shook her head. "They may have done so, but they are also the same people who took in an orphaned child after she had lost both of her parents. I would not have lived without their kindness, so it is really strange for me to want to repay that? Please, sir dragon, I beg of you to stop the drought and relieve their suffering!"

Instead of a reply from the great red dragon before her, she started a little when a second voice spoke instead. "Why do humans think that it is us dragons who cause these natural disasters? Things like droughts, floods, storms... They are all the will of Nature itself. We have no part in their making, nor can we shift them to our will. It is only humans who foolishly think that we can."

A second figure, who Rouge hadn't noticed till then, stood just within the shadows of the cave. Her eyes widened at the sight of blond hair and sharp gray eyes. A human? The man wore a neat outfit of a dark blue vest buttoned over a plain white shirt, long sleeves rolled up to the elbows, matched with gray trousers tucked into sturdy black boots. At first glance he would not have looked out of place in the village, but as he moved further out into the light, she noted the scatter of silvery blue scales against the exposed skin of his forearms.

Yet she hardly noticed any of that, her heart feeling as if it had dropped at his words. "Then... Then the village cannot be saved?"

The silver-scaled dragon considered her, eyes narrowed with wary contemplation. Gray eyes tinged with the same faint blue of his scales seemed to bore into her mind, as if seeking the truth of her resolve. Rouge met that gaze unflinchingly. She saw a tinge of approval light those gray eyes before they flicked back towards the red dragon. A silent message appeared to pass between them. His next words made her heart leap with hope. "I did not say that."

With those cryptic words the silver-scaled dragon turned back into the cave.

Rouge's eyes followed him until it – he? – vanished back into the shadows, hope and trepidation warring within her. Could she put her faith in those words to believe that the dragon had agreed to help her village?

Feeling a puff of warm air on her shoulder, she spun back around to find bright onyx eyes still staring at her from a somewhat nearer distance than before. She automatically took a step backwards, but caught herself quickly and clasped her hands behind her back.

The dragon seemed to smile at her response, dark eyes crinkling. "Don't worry, Ray is going to help you."

Though his tone was gentle, Rouge swallowed nervously nevertheless. "Then… Sir dragon, are you going to... eat me?"

To her surprise, the dragon looked positively affronted at the very idea, expelling an exasperated huff from his nostrils. "Dragons don't eat humans as food – that's just a ridiculous myth that humans have made up. And it would be a waste to eat a pretty lady like you."

Rouge blinked. Had she just been given a... compliment? Perhaps that was a roguish smirk that curved the dragon's sharp-teethed jaw, for there was indeed a playful brightness in onyx black eyes that made her heart jump a little not from fear this time.

The second dragon re-emerged from the cave then, a duffel bag slung over one shoulder. With the silver-blue scales hidden from sight by long shirt-sleeves, the dragon before her truly looked no different from a human. It made Rouge wonder if there were places where dragons lived among humans, or if she had actually met a dragon unknowingly in the past. He caught Rouge's gaze, already starting towards the path that she had come from. "Follow me."

Rouge wasn't sure why she glanced back at the red dragon, as if for reassurance, but the warmth in those dark eyes and the nod he gave her soothed her worries as she followed the other dragon through the mountain forest. The path that they turned onto was easier to traverse than the one Rouge had taken on her way up, but was clearly winding down the mountain as well.

They walked in silence for a good half hour before the dragon before her spoke again, answering the question that she had not yet dared to voice.

"There's an untouched water source about five miles east of the village edge. While we do not have sway over Nature's caprices, we dragons are more in touch with her elements. I myself am of the Water race, and have a certain amount of knowledge about the flow of water in the area, both above ground and under. I will go back with you to the village under the guise of a traveler from the North and lead your village to a place where they can draw water from that ought to tide them over the length of the drought."

"What kind of repayment can I give you for this aid?"

Gray eyes flicked briefly back at her. "There is nothing you can give me that I require. Simply think of it as a whim that requires no repayment."

"But…"

A quiet huff came from him but Rouge did not sense any true irritation, rather a feeling of gruff kindness. "In any case, it was Roger who requested this of me. You can give your thanks to him."

Rouge filed the name Roger into her memory, knowing that it belonged to the red-scaled dragon. It felt a little strange, referring to a dragon by his name. In all of the stories Rouge had heard, never once had she come across one that gave a dragon's name. Feelings, companionship, kindness... All these traits had never been associated with the dragons in the elders' folktales. But the past hour had overturned all that in Rouge's mind.

"Sir dragon… Could I know your name?"

The look of surprise showed that he hadn't been expecting the question, but he didn't not seem unpleased. "I go by the name Rayleigh."

She smiled. "I must give you my thanks as well then, Rayleigh. After all, you too agreed to help, when you need not have done so."

A brief pause followed, Rayleigh falling back into silence. "It still surprises me even after all this time, how Roger's instincts never turn out wrong," he murmured with a slight laugh. It was uttered so softly that Rouge wondered if she was meant to have heard. Finally, he looked back at her, returning her smile for the first time. "It's my pleasure."

* * *

It was a week since Rouge had returned to the village with the disguised dragon who had identified himself as a traveler named Rayleigh. Rouge wondered if that had been his real name.

Either way, he had woven a story about running into Rouge while picking medicinal supplies in the mountain, listening to her tale about the drought and remembering how he had replenished his water supply from a source a few miles North. He brought the village chief and a few youths to the spot, and when they came back with barrels filled with water the village dissolved into tears of joy. They had a celebration that night where Rayleigh was the honored guest. He stayed for the night, but left the village at dawn saying that he needed to travel on. Donkeys were harnessed to pull carts stacked with barrels, the healthy youths of the village put in charge of making the journey to ferry water to the village every day.

For a while it seemed like the village's fate had taken a turn for the better. Until two weeks later, three of the village children fell ill in quick succession, down with burning fevers and rattling breaths. The village doctor, finding no apparent cause, diagnosed that it was caused by a combination of fatigue and the burning dryness of the drought. He prescribed bed-rest and sleep-inducing herbs, and that chapter may have come to a quiet close if two more children hadn't succumbed to the same symptoms a day later, rendering their already-depleted medicine stock quite insufficient. Without the calming effects of medicine, the sick children fretted and cried, keeping their frantic parents by their sides all day and night.

It was thus on the third evening that Rouge approached the home of one such family, wanting to offer her help and support in any way she could. The sick child's name was Jim, an energetic boy with a sweet tooth who had often come to Rouge with his friends requesting cookies. But before she could knock on the door, the muffled sound of raised voices inside gave her pause. She recognized the voice of Jim's mother, but had never heard it with such a hysterical tinge before.

"...didn't anyone find it strange that she came back untouched after leaving for the dragon's mountain, spouting a story about meeting a traveler who had seen water? A stranger who left as suddenly as he arrived, after bringing us here. She must have made a pact with the monster, to spare her own life in exchange for others! And that's why our boy is sick now, and Marie's girls and Shelly's too!"

Her husband's gentle voice tried to placate her, but even he sounded tired. "Laila, that's..."

"Don't tell me that you've never suspected so as well!"

Rouge took several steps back from the door, heart thumping erratically in her chest. She felt cold in a way that had nothing to do with the chill of the night. A part of her understood that those were words spoken by a terrified mother, compounded by fatigue and worry, but another part of her turned the blame to herself. If she had done more, helped more… Perhaps…

There were herbs growing on the dragon's mountain that could be used as medicine. In recent months the plants at the foot of the mountain had shriveled, but she remembered how the trees had grown better in the higher altitudes of the mountain. If she ventured further up the mountain, there may still be herbs growing there.

Swallowing down her resolve, she fled back to her cottage to change into clothes more suitable for travelling. Every moment that passed was a moment wasted. If there was something that she could do, she would do it.

* * *

Rouge's vision wavered as she reached out for a small plant she identified as one useful for reducing fevers, adding it to her bag which still only held a meager stock of medicinal herbs. She shook her head to clear it, ignoring the fatigue that plagued her body from walking for hours without food and water. In her haste she had not thought to take anything beyond a thin cloak and an oil lamp. It was difficult enough to see by the flickering light of the lamp, its flame slowly dimming as its fuel dwindled, already stuttering with every few paces. The pounding pain in her head simply made it worse, but Rouge collected her scattered mind and pressed on.

Not ten steps later, the thin light of lamp spluttered and died, plunging her into darkness only barely alleviated by the wan silver of the waxing moon. The oil had burnt out. Rouge blinked away stinging tears, slightly hysterical as she stared blindly at the tiny red ashes of the spent wick. No. No, this was no time for giving up. Steeling herself, she used the faint moonlight to continue down the rough path. But her body was just as exhausted as the lamp and a wave of dizziness hit her, throwing off her balance and making her stumble on a loose rock.

A hand caught hers, pulling her upright before she could fall. Her hazy eyes looked down at it almost uncomprehendingly, even more so when she saw a claw instead of a hand, covered with maroon scales flecked with gold that faded away into tanned human skin on a muscled arm.

Onyx black eyes, dark like the cloudless night, were the last thing Rouge saw before her consciousness fell away completely.

* * *

Rouge woke up to the sensation of warmth and the crackling sound of a fire. Her whole body fell heavy and lethargic, and the warmth tempted her back to sleep. She shook it away though, turning her head to the side to get a better view of her surroundings past the rough rock ceiling.

A dark-haired man sat a short distance away to her right, staring into the flickering flames. At the rustling her movement elicited, he quickly turned to look at her with black eyes tinged with a maroon glow from the fire. His face split in a bright grin.

"You're awake!"

"Where…" Rouge's voice trailed off scratchily. She swallowed to clear her throat before trying again. "Where am I?"

"You're in my home. Don't worry, you're safe here." The man smiled at her, black hair falling messily into his eyes. "I'm Roger, do you remember me?"

It took Rouge's sluggish mind a moment to connect that name to her memories.

Roger. Onyx eyes flecked with coal red. A towering form with deep red scales, wings edged with gold.

The dragon.

She bolted upright, only for the dizziness to strike her down again.

"Woah, take it easy! Wait, I'll get you some water." Roger sprung to his feet to grab the canteen of spring water Rayleigh had set aside for him. He returned, holding it out to her. "Here." There was a strange pause where she didn't react, confusing him. "Rouge?"

"Ah! Y-Yes, I mean, t-thank you, um..." Rouge was blushing furiously as she accepted the water.

Roger blinked at her, looking perplexed as she tried to look anywhere but directly at him. "I intended to take on a form that you would find more comforting..." He looked down at his morphed body, tanned skin covered with random patches of red scales. Was it because his hands were still claws? He tapped the hard red scales around his wrists with the tip of a claw, trying to will them away but to no avail. Ray had always been better at shape-shifting than him, managing to adopt a human form that only had the odd dusting of faint scales here and there to give him away. But that wasn't it, right? Rouge didn't seem afraid anymore, instead more like... amused? Yes, that was definitely a smile that was dancing at the edge of her lips no matter how much she tried to suppress it. Shy too, like a skittish hatchling, but not from fear. So what was it...

Realization hit him. "Ah! Right, Ray did mention something about how humans think it is indecent to go about without clothing. Erm... I think I had a robe somewhere around..."

Rouge politely studied the wall as he rummaged through a chest, only turning back when Roger spoke again. "Alright, I'm dressed."

It really was an archaic robe that Roger had unearthed and put on, a perfectly shapeless gray thing, but it did the job of covering everything up to his ankles. Roger scratched the back of his head sheepishly with a hand that was still clawed. "Ray's tried to teach me a few times, but I've never quite gotten the hang of human customs." After a moment he stilled, nose twitching in a comical manner before erupting in a huge sneeze that blew sparks of fire from his nostrils alongside the dust. Roger shook his head, perplexed and a little cross-eyed at the fact that his face had returned to a strange snout-nose hybrid.

Rouge bit her lower lip in a valiant attempt to keep from laughing, but a bright giggle still escaped her lips. Checking herself immediately, she sent a careful glance at her benefactor. But far from being offended, Roger – with his face now fully human again – was beaming at her with an enormous grin that she could only respond with a smile of her own. After a moment though his expression turned serious.

"Now can you tell me about why you were wandering around the mountain forest alone at night?"

Rouge hesitated for a moment, but Roger's kind dark eyes drew the story out from her. She began haltingly, speaking of how a few of the village children had fallen ill, how worry spread among the parents and villagers alike, how their limited medicine stock had dwindled further. She spoke and Roger only made soft noises in return as he listened, yet something in his eyes made her wonder what he was hearing between her words. She didn't mention Laila's hysterical accusations, about a certain wariness that had hung among the villagers ever since her return, but she felt that Roger knew nonetheless.

But when he spoke he gave no questions, only an answer. "I have a friend who is the doctor of the village on the other side of the mountain. I will ask him to pay a visit to your village to aid your doctors."

Rouge sucked in a shaky breath. "You've done so much for us already. I can't even hope to repay you for your past help-" A clawed hand closing over hers, surprisingly gentle, cut her off.

Dark eyes flecked with red looked into hers, above a smile that was just a little roguish. "One thing you'll learn about me, Rouge, is that I don't do things I don't want to. So don't worry about it. I will send Crocus to your village, and he will help them. So now you should rest. We can talk again in the morning."

And so lulled by Roger's calm deep voice with its warm promise, Rouge closed her eyes and slipped back to sleep.

* * *

Rouge was awoken the next morning by bright sunlight creeping up towards her face. Roger's maroon-scaled dragon form was curled up beside her, back rising and falling with the peaceful pace of sleep. She wondered when she had stopped being afraid of the dragon, even with his true form so much larger than her, with a strength she could not hope to match. But as she gazed upon him, all she remembered were twinkling black eyes.

Smiling to herself, she rose from her makeshift bed as quietly as she could so not to awaken her companion, casting her eyes around the cave that was the dragons' home. Bright morning sunlight streamed in from the front of the cave, stopping just a few feet shy of where they slept, indicating that it was another clear sunny day. High up in the mountain like they were, the weather lacked the scorching heat that was often felt down in the plains in recent weeks.

In the clear light of day, Rouge realized that there was a glimmer of light at the back of the cave as well, along with a faint breeze. The air in the cave was surprisingly fresh, indicating a good flow of air. It was only now that she realized that it wasn't truly a cave at all, but a tunnel of sorts that hollowed out into the series of caves the dragons lived in before narrowing again in the back.

Curious, she went towards the light, a closer look indeed revealing it to be sunlight as she had thought, the mid-morning sun streaming in to warm the curved stone walls. The tunnel finally opened out onto a sunlit ledge.

The sight that greeted her eyes took her breath away. Lush greenery spread out below her, ancient trees unfurling fresh new leaves, bright shrubs feathered across the ground. Birds flitted around the sprawling forest, sweet birdsong coming to Rouge's ears even from so high above.

Was this the other side of the mountain already? But the tunnel had been much too short for it to be so. Casting her gaze above, her reasoning was indeed made valid by the sight of a towering dome of rough rock with a gaping hole at the very top that allowed sunlight to stream in. Could this beautiful place, wild and untouched, really exist on the inside of the great mountain?

The soft tap of claw tips against stone, lighter than that of his full dragon form, alerted her of Roger's approach. As with before, his human form still maintained his hands and feet as claws, with smatterings of red and gold scales here and there. He had put a different robe from yesterday, this one of a finer cloth dyed in reddish black, and it looked like he had the foresight to shake out any dust from it beforehand.

She turned to him immediately, and he knew the question she wished to ask even before she voiced it. "Ray went down to tell Crocus of the situation earlier this morning. He should be at your village by noon."

"Thank you, truly. You've done so much without asking for anything in return. Mister Rayleigh as well, I really must thank him for everything."

"Well you'll be able to do it in person, he should be back soon." Roger's gaze slid to follow the direction she had been staring at before, down at the forest below. "Now," Roger's eyes returned to hers, twinkling as they predicted a second question she had been too shy to ask. "You want to go down to take a closer look?"

Before she could reply Roger morphed back into his full dragon form, filling up the wide ledge.

"There really isn't anyway down but to fly," his voice, more echoing than it was in his human form, rumbled in explanation. He crouched down so that his legs were bent beneath him, dark eyes watching her expectantly.

Realizing that it was an invitation to climb onto his back, Rouge reached out with tentative hands to touch that scaly back. The red scales were smooth under her palms and surprisingly warm. Gathering her courage, she clambered onto the dragon's back until she settled in a flat ridge between his wings. She obeyed Roger's suggestion to wrap her arms around his neck as he stretched out his wings. Once she was secure Roger took a smooth leap off the ledge, large wings flapping briefly before allowing the natural wind currents to guide them in a gentle spiral down to the forest clearing below.

Rouge gasped in delight as the wind streamed past her face, throwing her long hair loose behind her. They landed in the middle of a grassy clearing, powerful legs cushioning the force from their descent into a smooth landing. Rouge slid rather clumsily off him as he crouched again, but still managed to fall on her feet. She looked around with eyes filled with wonder. There was so much _life_.

Roger smiled, curling up comfortably on the grass as he watched her.

"This cavern has been here even before we came. Ray says that the mountain may have been a volcano once, a long time ago, but somewhere along the line it settled down. Perhaps it was the work of a fire dragon who tamed the magma, or an earth dragon who paved it into soil. Either way, a forest has thrived here for centuries. The opening above lets sunlight and rainwater in, and these plants have taken root here in a place where the soil is naturally fertile, sheltered from harsh winds."

"It's beautiful," she breathed, reaching out to touch a soft red blossom.

The sound of crashing nearby made Rouge spin around just in time to see the two small dragons tumble to the ground none-too-gently. Beside her, Roger uttered a very inelegant snort.

The one nearer, whose scales gleamed a pure bright red from head to tail in the sunlight, turned on his companion. "Dammit, Buggy, I would have gotten that landing right if you hadn't bumped into me!"

The other dragon had scales of brilliant sky blue, save from a distinct patch of red at the end of his snout. When accused, his expression morphed into one of unmistakable outrage. " _You're_ the one who flashily crashed into _me_!"

"I was going in a straight line, _you_ were-"

A fourth dragon, whose silvery blue scales identified him to be Rayleigh, landed a few feet shy of the squabbling children with considerably more finesse despite his markedly greater size. Observing the quarrel unfolding before him, Rayleigh let out a distinctly exasperated huff before whacking the two young dragons' behinds with his tail.

If dragons could pout, the pair were most certainly pouting as they turned back to look at the older dragon. And if Roger's chuckles were any indication, this scene was a normal occurrence in their household.

"Let me introduce you!" Roger shuffled closer to the other dragons, dancing eyes trading an amused look with Rouge over his toothy grin. "This here is Shanks," he said as he butted the younger red dragon with his snout. "And this is Buggy. Boys, this is Rouge."

Rouge found herself the recipient of two very curious gazes, frank and unhidden in a way characteristic of the young. She smiled sweetly at them. "It's very nice to meet you."

Their next question caught her off guard. "Are you going to be staying with us, Miss Rouge?"

Her first answer was of course to say no, because Roger and Rayleigh had been so kind and surely she was just a temporary guest, here by chance and her own rash decisions. But her eyes had met Roger's again and the intensity of them made her pause.

"Do you want to stay, Rouge?" Roger asked her.

That simple question brought up all the desires she had long buried, born of her heart and deemed by her mind to be selfish. How long had it been since anyone had asked her what _she_ wanted?

From the corner of her eye she saw Rayleigh coaxing the young ones away. Her eyes followed them as they took off back into the sky, the two trailing behind the older dragon clumsily but with growing strength, a clear sign of their youth.

Roger's gaze followed hers, and his voice was soft when he spoke.

"Those children... their mother was killed by humans who feared the unknown so much that they translated it to hatred. Her last act in life was to carry her children far away from that accursed place. I found her collapsed at the base of this mountain, curled protectively around hatchlings that couldn't be more than a week old. These boys were the only two to survive."

Rouge's voice was soft. "So you took them in, raised them as your own." She turned to look into his eyes. "Their mother was killed by humans – why do you trust me, a human, to let me into your home and to be near them?"

"Because I can tell that you are different from those humans. And perhaps that you are not unlike us, also trying to find a place to truly belong." A clawed hand cupped her face gently again, bringing her eyes back to Roger. "Stay with us, Rouge. Build a home here, with us – me, Ray and the children." His gaze fell towards the young dragons again, drawing hers as well. "And for the children... Rouge, won't you become their mother?"

"But... I'm a human."

The amber flecks in Roger's dark eyes danced like the gentle warmth of a fireplace on a cold night. "Is there a difference, in what being a mother means, between humans and dragons? Or any other kind of being at all?"

"...No. I don't suppose there is." And her heart knew that it was the truth. She reached up her own hand to clasp over his, and the tears that welled in her eyes seemed to flow also into her heart to fill up a part of her that she hadn't realized had been empty.

Roger's grin returned, just as bright and pure as before. "Welcome to our family, Rouge."

* * *

Rouge learned that all dragons had the ability to shape-shift, though it took long practice to achieve a complete alternative form. In that respect Rayleigh was the best at taking on a humanoid form, overshadowed only by Crocus, an old friend who visited occasionally and Rouge was told served as the doctor for a village on the other side of the mountain from hers with no one the wiser of his true nature. Roger had been improving with making his hands and feet less claw-like, but scales still covered the back of his hands like gloves.

Shanks and Buggy, however, seemed to mess up a different body part every time. Most of the time it was their lower body that remained in dragon form, giving them some odd centaur-esque appearance.

It had honestly been rather unnerving the first few times Rouge saw the body of a boy matched with Buggy's dragon head, or Shanks' red-haired human head popping up from his equally red scaled body, but even she grew used it to in time. It was all part of a young dragon's natural growing process, after all. And the children were definitely improving at a vast rate.

In the three months she had stayed with the family Rouge had grown familiar with the unique sound of claw-tipped bare feet on stone, so it was no surprise that she looked up from her sewing to be greeted by the two boys running towards her. They had managed largely human forms this time, though bright scales were still speckled all over their skin including their faces. Rayleigh and Rouge's lessons on human etiquette had worked as well, for they had obediently donned clothes, though like Roger they still favored loose robes over more modern styles. Rouge was currently occupied with sewing some simple shirts for the boys that they would hopefully be more willing to wear than the button-down ones Rayleigh had acquired from town.

"Miss Rouge, look, look!" Buggy reached her first, eagerly presenting a glittering item held in a clawed hand.

Shanks arrived a moment later, and wasted no time pressing his gift into her hand as well with a charming grin. "I found this in the river. It's for you!"

"Oi, you flashy redhead, I gave Miss Rouge mine first!"

Shanks stuck out his tongue at his brother. "Well mine's better!"

"As if! You won't flashily know the difference between art and the dirt under my foot!"

"What was that, red nose-!"

"Boys," Rouge's disapproving tone cut through their squabble.

The two boys sent a final heated glare towards each other before hanging their heads. "...We're sorry, Miss Rouge."

She gave a quiet huff in fond exasperation. Well that had to do for the moment. "Now why don't you sit down here next to me and tell me about these stones?"

And she smiled as the boys launched into their excited tale about how they had gone fishing in the river with Roger and Rayleigh that morning, and managed to find a few glittering crystals in there instead. It was clear that the boys had completely forgotten about their original task with their surprise findings, and so when Rayleigh returned to the cave half an hour later with a basket of fish caught between his jaws to find the boys still chattering away they shared an amused glance over the children's heads. A moment later Roger entered with his scales glistering and slightly muddy, still mucking in a trail of dripping water even after the short flight up to the cave.

Rouge couldn't help but laugh aloud at the sight, and at Rayleigh's too-innocent expression as he ambled further into the cave with their catch which told its own story about what had occurred down at the river.

Honestly there were days when she felt like she was living with four children, rather than just two. But as she caught Roger's eye and he returned it with a bright grin warm like the first rays of sunshine on a summer morning, she knew she wouldn't have it any other way.

* * *

 **OMAKE**

"There ought to be no complications. All signs of pregnancy are as normal."

"Thank you, Dr. Crocus."

The blond Earth dragon cracked a smile as he packed up his medical supplies. "You just take it easy, my dear. Don't let Roger's wild imagination work you into a frenzy. If there's anything you're concerned about, you all know where to find me."

Shanks and Buggy were staring at Rouge's round belly. "Miss Rouge is gonna have a baby?"

She smiled, inviting them to come closer. "That's right." She gently took their hands so that they could touch the gentle curve of the bump. "There's a baby growing inside here, all protected and safe until it's big enough to live on its own."

"Thatch said that babies come from eggs," Shanks commented as he looked up at her questioningly, highlighting the source of the boys' confusion.

Rouge smoothed back his messy red hair. "Well, this time it's a little different because I'm a human. Human babies grow inside their mother's womb. Just like with the hard shell of an egg, they stay protected inside until they're ready to meet the world."

Roger clapped his hands down on each of their shoulders, squeezing warmly. "We'll be counting on you two to help take care of the kid too, you know. Whether it's little Ace or little Ann, they'll be your new little sibling, and as the big brothers now you'll have a job to do protecting them."

"Ace or Ann, is it?" Rayleigh smiled. "Those are good names."

The boys, on the other hand, had quite a different concern.

"I'm the oldest brother," Shanks proclaimed immediately.

"WHAT!? There's no way you flashily are the oldest. _I'm_ the older one!"

"I am!"

"No, I am!"

"No, you're not!"

"Am too!"

Rouge's twinkling gaze met Rayleigh's half-exasperated eyes and Roger's warm laughing ones, and her heart could not be happier because this was home.


End file.
